Children{40 s feeding utensil

ABSTRACT

A utensil for the feeding of infants and children, in which the handle terminates in the face of a clown, with the utensil, such as a fork or a spoon, being fastened to the handle through the mouth of the face of the clown. The handle contains an electrical battery which is connected by a switch to illuminate the eyes and nose of the clown&#39;&#39;s face.

United States Patent 11 1 Crapio Oct. 8, 1974 54] CHILDREN'S FEEDING UTENSIL 2,787,055 4/1957 Wertz 30/324 x 3,185,832 5/1965 N .1 240 6.46 [75] Inventor: Anthony Cram, New Haven 3,370,163 2/1968 24016.46 [73] Assignee; The Raymond Lee Organization, 3,510,643 5/1970 File 30/123 x Inc., New York, N.Y. a part interest Primary Examiner-Al Lawrence Smith Assistant Examiner-J. C. Peters [22] Flled: 1973 Attorney, Agent, or Firm--l-loward I. Podell 21 Appl. N0; 336,185

[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl... 30/123, 240/646 A utensil for the feeding of infants and children, in [51 Int. Cl. A47j 43/28 whichthe hl l lfi lm fialfli inlhfla pfa 3, 921% 58 Field 61 Search 30/324, 123, 327; 'With the utensil, h s a fork or a spoon, being fas- 240 4 2 E tened to the handle through the mouth of the face of the clown. The handle contains an electrical battery [56] Ref r n it which is connected by a switch to illuminate the eyes UNITED STATES PATENTS and nose of the clowns face. 1,144,210 6/1915 Kincaid 240/6.46 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 1 CHILDREN'S FEEDING UTENSIL SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a utensil for the feeding of children and infants, in which the illuminated face of a clown, which is built into the utensil handle, serves to entertain the child being fed.

An advantage of this invention is that it may be readily fastened to a fork or to a spoon. The actual feeding utensil utilized is removable for cleaning purposes.

The handle of the device terminates in the face of a clown, with an open mouth through which the utensil handle is fastened. The nose and eyes of the face of the clown may be in the form of flashlight bulbs, or they may be in the form of transparent beads of glass or plastic which are illuminated by a flashlight bulb. One or more flashlight batteries are mounted in the handle of the device and connected by means of a switch to the circuit of the eyes and nose of the clown.

Knurled set screws are mounted under-the mouth section of the clown face, so as to fasten the spoon or fork to the device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The objects and features of the invention may be understood with reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodimentof the invention, taken together with the accompanying drawing in which:

throughout the several views, FIGS. 1-4 illustrate the device 10 to which a spoon is mounted. An electric switch 11 connects the internal electrical battery 22 to the light bulbs forming the eyes 17 and the nose 18 of the face 16 of the clown. The clowns face may be topped with a hat 20 and edges with ears 19.

The spoon 15 is fastened intov mouth 21 of the face of the clown by screws 25, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4. Screws 25 are bordered with knurl 26 so that the screws 25 may be readily manually rotated in tightening the spoon 15 or fork or other feeding implement.

Battery 22 maybe removed by-removal of handle FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device mounted to a feeding spoon;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section of the device; FIG. 3 is an end view of the device; and FIG. 4 is a plan view of the bottom of the device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now descriptively to the drawing, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements In the preferred embodiment, the eyes 17 of the clown are colored green, with the nose 18 of the clown being colored red.

Since obvious changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention described herein, it is indicated that all matter contained herein is intended as illustrative and not as limiting in scope.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by letters patent of the United States is: r I

1. A utensil for the feeding of children consisting of a handle which terminates in theface of a clown, with provisions for an attachable disposable food utensil which fits into the mouth of said clown and is fastened to said handle, together with means to illuminate'the eyes and the nose of the face of the clown by means of electric bulbs mounted to the face powered by a battery mounted inside the handle, said eyes and nose being formed of transparent material.

2. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which features of the face of the clown are formed of flashlight bulbs powered by the battery.

3. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which the utensil is shaped as a spoon.

4. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which the utensil is shaped as a fork. 

1. A utensil for the feeding of children consisting of a handle which terminates in the face of a clown, with provisions for an attachable disposable food utensil which fits into the mouth of said clown and is fastened to said handle, together with means to Illuminate the eyes and the nose of the face of the clown by means of electric bulbs mounted to the face powered by a battery mounted inside the handle, said eyes and nose being formed of transparent material.
 2. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which features of the face of the clown are formed of flashlight bulbs powered by the battery.
 3. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which the utensil is shaped as a spoon.
 4. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which the utensil is shaped as a fork. 